Current Events > Federal cannabis arrests jump 25% during Biden's first year in office

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.laweekly.com/federal-cannabis-arrests-jump-25-under-biden/

This followed Joe Bidens February 2021 promise he would pursue decriminalization and mass expungements for people with prior cannabis convictions

just fuck off already

Say it ain't so, Joe.

Step on me Mamala Harris

What was the % decrease at the start of the pandemic?

Biden has done fuckall with MJ laws, afaik. So it's unlikely that any action of the admin has lead to this.

Can we impeach this guy yet?

COVxy posted...

What was the % decrease at the start of the pandemic?

Biden has done fuckall with MJ laws, afaik. So it's unlikely that any action of the admin has lead to this.

second paragraph of the article:

But while a post-pandemic bump in arrests would have been fair to expect, the biggest jump in cannabis arrests in a decade was not. The nations oldest cannabis reform organization NORML noted the 6,606 marijuana-related arrests in 2021 represented the most since the 8,500 arrested in 2011.

also ....

COVxy posted...

Biden has done fuckall with MJ laws, afaik

exactly. but we all knew his "promise" of doing anything meaningful about weed was yet another empty campaign "promise".

Step back and ask questions like COVxy.

Every good and bad increase needs to be questioned like that. Most of the "good and bad" is just a return to normal levels, or perhaps still under their pre-covid numbers.

The feds can pull this shit without Joes authorization

Giant_Aspirin posted...

second paragraph of the article:

also ....

exactly. but we all knew his "promise" of doing anything meaningful about weed was yet another empty campaign "promise".

Now... that's more interesting.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

second paragraph of the article:

That doesn't answer the question. The jump could be the largest because the artificial decrease in arrests at the start of the pandemic was large. Like, the question is whether the rebound is greater than you would expect due to a reflexive like action of the system.

COVxy posted...

That doesn't answer the question. The jump could be the largest because the artificial decrease in arrests at the start of the pandemic was large. Like, the question is whether the rebound is greater than you would expect due to a reflexive like action of the system.

well then i dont know and im too lazy to go research that. why don't you go find out and report back?

all i know is that feds keep arresting people over a plant and it's beyond stupid.

So why did Biden admin act like they care about Brittney Griner. If this is what they do in the US.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

well then i dont know and im too lazy to go research that. why don't you go find out and report back?

all i know is that feds keep arresting people over a plant and it's beyond stupid.

Sure, but politics, particularly now, is a game of favors. Pushing hard on this would likely mean spending all his political capital to do other things.

Do you think this issue is more important than the legislative wins thus far?

Pepys_Monster posted...

Can we impeach this guy yet?

After the midterms.

COVxy posted...

Sure, but politics, particularly now, is a game of favors. Pushing hard on this would likely mean spending all his political capital to do other things.

Do you think this issue is more important than the legislative wins thus far?

i dont have a complete list of every single "legislative wins thus far" handy, so it's hard for me to quantify the importance of this vs everything else. but not sending tends of thousands of people to prison and effectively ruining their lives (over a plant) is pretty important, yeah.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

i dont have a complete list of every single "legislative wins thus far" handy, so it's hard for me to quantify the importance of this vs everything else. but not sending tends of thousands of people to prison and effectively ruining their lives (over a plant) is pretty important, yeah.

I'm not really asking you to make that judgement. Really just getting you to see and acknowledge that it's not as simple as "he should just do what he promised!"

shrug. how much "political capital" do you think he would expend by just telling his DEA to stop going after weed? he doesn't even need to make a grand announcement about it, just ... quietly tone it down. it's not like he needs to get Congress to pass a law or anything, just stop enforcing it.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

shrug. how much "political capital" do you think he would expend by just telling his DEA to stop going after weed? it's not like he needs to get Congress to pass a law or anything, just stop enforcing it.

I don't think he could go to a federal agency and just tell them to stop following the law. Now, i don't know all the details, but that seems unlikely.

Maybe a little more likely to not charge individuals, as that may have a little bit of prosecutor discretion, but idk. Either way, i dont think there's anyway around descheduling the drug and decriminalizing it legislatively.

damn, Biden must have been busting people for weed at gas stations while he was going around increasing the prices

COVxy posted...

That doesn't answer the question. The jump could be the largest because the artificial decrease in arrests at the start of the pandemic was large. Like, the question is whether the rebound is greater than you would expect due to a reflexive like action of the system.

This, probably.